Northwestern University Human Rights Project
NU Human Rights Project is a student group designed to introduce students to the professional human rights community at Northwestern, in Chicago, nationally, and abroad. The group consists of two branches: one that focuses on advocacy, and one that focuses on education.
Meet our members.
Meet our members.
Advocacy The NU Human Rights Project collaborates with local and global human rights organizations to develop engaging, legally-oriented projects in which students of all levels of legal experience may participate during the school year.
Work done on these projects count toward NU’s suggested 50-hour community service goal. In the past, the group has worked with the Bluhm Legal Clinic to help summarize depositions for the ATS case Wiwa v. Royal Dutch Petroleum, as well as on research projects for groups like Burma Lawyers Council, The Capital Jury Project, and the MacArthur Justice Center Death Penalty Project. This fall, the group is planning projects in a variety of domestic and international human rights fields. We will continue to partner with the Journal of International Human Rights to assist with the Atrocity Crimes Litigation Conference held at NU next spring. We also plan to work with the University of Michigan’s Human Trafficking Clinic, and possibly work with a fair housing advocacy clinic or center in Chicago. |
Education The NU Human Rights Project works to cultivate a human rights community on campus by organizing social and educational events. In the past, the group has hosted a series of interactive, discussion-based coffee talks, where students could learn about human rights-related research and advocacy that professors, firms, and other leaders in the community are undertaking.
Some of last year’s events included such topics as “Human Rights Violations in Chicago: The Burge Trial and Torture” and “Sexual Orientation and Asylum Law.” For the coming year, the Human Rights Project is working collaboratively other civil and human rights-oriented student organizations to put together a weeklong symposium of programming on domestic and international human rights topics, in addition to coffee talks scheduled throughout the year. We also plan to host a panel discussion on “Human Rights as a Career,” highlighting the broad range of career paths that touch upon human rights issues. |